Stony Creek Museum in Branford to welcome visitors this weekend

Stony Creek-- Neal and Judy Robison work on a display at the new Stony Creek Museum as they prepare for the opening. Peter Casolino/New Haven Register 05/23/12

Stony Creek-- Neal and Judy Robison work on a display at the new Stony Creek Museum as they prepare for the opening. Peter Casolino/New Haven Register 05/23/12

Stony Creek Museum in Branford to welcome visitors this weekend

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BRANFORD -- As a trunk more than 100 years old was being placed carefully in its new spot where it hopefully will rest for decades to come, Judy Robison stressed that the soon-to-be Stony Creek Museum is a work in progress.

The entire museum was very much a work in progress days before its dedication ceremony, planned for Sunday, as concrete was being poured for a walkway outside, wood was being cut and exhibits were being placed together -- but this entire endeavor has been a project, started, paused and re-ignited for more than 12 years.

The town-owned building is being dedicated as the museum in an event that begins at 4 p.m. Sunday. The fife and drum corps will march through the area and the museum at 84 Thimble Islands Road will be open to all, and there even will be ice-cream sundaes. The official dedication and ceremonies take place at 5 p.m.

Robison, board chairwoman, said she and other members of the community always have wanted to celebrate what truly made up Stony Creek -- whether it was the quarrymen that brought immigrants to the town, the summer islands, the fishing, the hotels or the self-contained village.

Like someone might chronicle historical events, the timeline leading up to the dedication of the museum has been small steps leading up to the excitement of having a museum to cherish village history. A first initiative that celebrated the history of the area was the book "Flesh and Stone: Stony Creek and the Age of Granite," published in September 2001. Later, the organization received donations from resident Ron McDermott in 2009.

At first, Robison said, a group dedicated to preserving the area's history was just going to archive what had been brought to them, but the uniqueness and history attached to all that had been handed to them revitalized a desire to show it to others. She thanked McDermott for donating so much of what he found.

"That revitalized the project, it kind of helped us develop want we wanted to do," she said.

That was just one step.

Grants were obtained -- one for $75,000 from the state that paid for the renovations to what was once a church and is now a museum, and $7,000 from the Connecticut Humanities Council for oral history.

The trunk Robison was shifting to just the right spot in the museum will be on display this weekend, and its story exemplified the need for a place to display the artifacts. The trunk was found by Peter Brainerd, who shared it with the museum. The trunk was opened on April 17 -- significant because a newspaper was found in the trunk dated exactly 100 years earlier to the day.

The trunk had belonged to a quarryman named Matt Mattson, and his family was invited to attend as museum curator Maureen DaRos carefully took out the pieces of the trunk, layer by layer.

In addition to the newspaper from the New Haven Union, the trunk had layers of miscellaneous items -- including clothing, ties and accessories.

That Stony Creek is a community made up of "people who care" makes Sunday's ceremony so special, Robison said. She said the phrase they use to describe the area is "In Some Chosen Place," which was the title of a cantata written about the area, which lends meaning to the purpose of the museum.

"It just feels as if we really are in some special, in some chosen place," she said. "This is just a community that cares. This really was a wonderful group effort."